This invention relates to a shock absorber check valve, and more particularly, to a shock absorber having a check valve damping adjustment.
Shock absorbers are used in vehicles to dampen inputs from roadways. For some vehicle applications, such as snowmobiles, it may be highly desirable to provide the operator with the ability to externally adjust damping characteristics of the shock absorber. To this end, some shock absorbers have incorporated a fluid passageway in the shock absorber piston rod to fluidly connect the rebound and compression fluid chambers. The rod includes a longitudinal bore with a plunger arranged within the bore. An adjustment knob, which is accessible to the vehicle operator from the exterior of the shock absorber, cooperates with the plunger to move the plunger between various positions to control the flow of fluid through the passageway. In this manner, the operator may adjust damping characteristics.
A fluid bypass passageway typically extends between portions to fluidly connect rebound and compression chambers. In this manner, fluid is permitted to flow through the rod to provide damping characteristics in addition to those damping characteristics typically provided by the piston. A valve assembly, which may include a one-way check valve, is arranged within the passageway for controlling the flow of fluid between the rebound and compression chambers through the passageway. Disadvantageously, the shock absorber rod may encounter erratic and noisy behavior in recoil forces verses displacement due to operation of the check valve.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a check valve assembly which minimizes or eliminates the erratic and noisy behavior.